"Do not attempt to adjust your television set." That used to be the opening for the old, much beloved "The Outer Limits," a boomer TV show that took "The Twilight Zone," threw away any whimsy or O. Henry endings, and doubled the scary monster quotient.

Well, if you go see "The Signal" anytime soon, do not attempt to adjust your movie screen.

A slow-starting but smart and deliciously weird sci-fi thriller, it is, like that underrated show, both happy to creep you out and reluctant to provide any closure. And it's in control until it ends.

It begins with three supersmart college students, two guys and a girl, driving cross country from M.I.T. to Caltech, to which one of them is transferring. Along the way, though, they have a sidetrip planned, or at least the boys do - surprise the hacker, NOMAD, who screwed up their college's servers and seems to be holed up somewhere in Nevada.

The movie takes a while to find its footing - there's too much geek talk, and a lot of maximally poetic, and minimally instructive, flashbacks.

But then, after a very spooky (and knowingly "Blair Witch" indebted sequence) the movie takes a sharp left turn into sci-fi paranoia. After a sudden, shocking attack Thwaites wakes up in some all-white facility, watched over by anonymous figures in hazmat suits. Laurence Fishburne, in particular, has some questions. But no answers to Thwaites' questions. Which begin to multiply as he realizes his two friends are missing. And that something about his body seems to be... wrong.

It has its stumbles along the way, but "The Signal" eventually comes together, with some nice effects and a mind-twisting ending which comes as a shock. And as the filmmakers now return control of your movie screen - well, you may just thank them for the time they held you captive.